International - Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia form alliance to combat illegal drugs

[Paracelsus]

Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia form alliance to combat illegal drugs
(20-10-2006)

QUANG NAM — Viet Nam will co-operate with its neighbours and the international community for making the ASEAN bloc drug-free by 2015, a government official said.
Senior Lt. Gen. Le The Tiem, Deputy Minister of Public Security, gave this assurance at a ministerial-level meeting with Laos and Cambodia, held to tackle drug trafficking across borders.
Speaking at the 6th Tripartite Ministerial Meeting between Viet Nam-Cambodia-Laos on Drugs Control Co-operation in Quang Nam Province on Wednesday, he said the meeting would focus on cracking down particularly on synthetic drugs and eradicating poppy plants.
Minister Soubanh Srithirat, Chairman of the President’s Office and Head of the National Committee for Drug Control of Laos; and Sen. Lt. Gen. Teng Savong, permanent vice chairman of Cambodia’s National Committee for Drug Control, attended the conference.
Tiem, who is also a member of the National Committee for AIDS, Prostitution and Drug Prevention, said Viet Nam government attached great importance to international co-operation in fighting drugs, especially strengthening co-operation with Laos and Cambodia.
Drug smugglers have abused the trade and exchanges of visits among people of the three countries in the border area to transport and smuggle drug, precursor and addictive medicines, which seriously affected security and social order in the three countries.
Representatives of the three countries affirmed that over the recent years, the national committees for drug control organised conferences and seminars at different levels and put forth initiatives and measures to resolve the problem. These countries have raised the effectiveness of their anti-drug efforts. The people’s awareness of disaster caused by drug-related crimes has been markedly improved in each country.
Participants also analysed limitations in anti-drug co-operation among law enforcement forces and border provinces of the three countries.
The meeting requested the national drug control agencies to continue border co-operation against drug trafficking.
It also asked border provinces to join drug enforcement agencies in swapping information on drug offences.
The three countries agreed to work, next year, on setting up an anti-drug liaison mechanism to make their co-operation more efficient.
The three countries should promote cooperation in eradication of poppy fields in border and remote areas, they said.
They agreed on the need to establish offices for anti-drug information exchange in neighbouring provinces.
The representative of the Vietnamese Government pledged to give more training to anti-drug law enforcement forces of Laos and Cambodia in 2007, and be ready to share experiences and information in this field with Lao and Cambodian colleagues.
The three sides agreed that in 2007, they would organise a meeting of their permanent anti-drug agencies to discuss the establishment of a mechanism of liaison officers.
As from 2007, trilateral and bilateral ministerial conferences between Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam will be held every two years.
Delegates also agreed to hold a Senior Experts Meeting on Drugs Control Co-operation in 2007 and the 7th Tripartite Ministerial Meeting in Cambodia in 2008. — VNS

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/s...um=06SOC201006

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